July 25, 2025
Effort is intangible and subjective
Currently no objective measure of effort exists in the NFL
Idea: previous research has explored pro soccer players reaching theoretical max acceleration capacity 1
Goals:
Improve estimation of individual acceleration-speed (A-S) profiles using statistical models
Assess how frequently players operate near or exceed their limits as a proxy for effort
Game, play, player data from Weeks 1-9: 136 games
Player tracking data: each observation is a frame in 10 fps
Pre-processing:
Filtered to running plays where a running back (RB) is the ball carrier
Trimmed each play to frames between handoff and end of play
Derived directional acceleration
A-S-based effort alone does not explain performance
Another way to validate effort metrics?
Change the definition of effort? Incorporate game context?